PNC Flag Bearer Challenges Opinion Polls On Election 2012

The flag bearer of the People’s National Convention (PNC), has challenged the veracity of opinion polls and predictions about the outcome of the 2012 general election.

According to Mr Mahama Ayariga, those organisations publishing reports of what they purported to be opinion polls and research they claimed to have conducted, were either cooking figures to deceive voters that a particular political party was doing well and needed to be voted for or dampening the spirit of the supporters of other political paries who in reality were doing well.

Mr Ayariga was reacting to predictions by DaMina, an independent research and consulting firm in the United Kingdom, which indicated that the PNC and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), led by Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, would not secure three per cent of the total votes cast in the 2012 elections.

In its report released on August 17, 2012, DaMina said, “Third-party candidates Paa Kwesi Nduom and Hassan Ayariga will not win more than a combined three per cent of the national vote as Ghanaians have settled comfortably into the country’s bifurcated polarised two-party political culture.”

The firm also predicted victory for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over the ruling National Democratic Congress.

Mr Ayariga urged Ghanaian media houses to be wary of the findings of such international research organisations and advised media practitioners to stick to the National Media Commission (NMC) standards of reporting such findings which include the name of the company, sponsors, the sampling size, questionnaires and where questionnaires were administered.

“Is the research company telling the electorate that they would not consider the issue of bread and butter being raised by other candidates, as well as the manifestoes of the various parties but will vote for NPP, irrespective of what NPP says in its manifesto and whether it will further the genuine cause of the electorate?” he quizzed.

He stated that there was no way that the myopic perceptions and thinking of some researchers living in the comfort of their homes thousands of miles away from the realities of the Ghanaian situation would reflect the true feelings of Ghanaians who would exercise their franchise to elect Members of Parliament and a President on December 7, 2012.

According to Mr Ayariga, he was confident that the PNC would spring a surprise in the December elections, because Ghanaians would make a change and shift from the monotonous choice of either the NDC or the NPP.

The PNC flag bearer, who promised to launch the party’s manifesto and select a running mate soon, contended that such unfounded reports also had the tendency to destabilise the peace and harmony of the country.

This, he said, was because supporters of parties that had been deceived to believe that they were winning the elections might not take the final verdict of the people in good faith, if it did not go their way. - graphic.com.gh